Two Table Tuesday

Like Tongue Out Tuesday, but with tables...and, yeah, it's just barely still Tuesday.  It's a fun title though, so I'll type fast :-).  

When you live in a small house and a small wool house, space is always at a premium.  I've been stacking balancing stuff on the back beam of my big loom for years.  It occurred to me that it would be very useful if I could turn that into an actual table.

The "table" rests on the back beam and hooks onto a loop of mop cord (another weaving tool that's not getting used as much as it should around here :-/) attached to the bar at the top.  When I want to use the loom, I just need to unhook the back loops and remove the board.  Pretty clever if I say so myself :-).

The weaving sheep look very interested in the yarn cones.  I need to do a post showing the before and after yarn the next time I'm skeining and washing.  Everyone who's seen the unwashed yarn compared to the finished yarn is amazed.  It is pretty wild.

The other new pretty darn clever table is in the spare bedroom at the not quite as woolly house.  I wanted a way to spread out and package orders without having to carry all the shipping supplies into the dining room, making a huge mess.

Putting a board on some hinges off the shelf was pretty do-able, but setting legs underneath it was problematic and I wasn't super jazzed about having chains holding up each side.  In the process of propping up the table to set the hinges, Tim noticed the quilt rack was the exact height to support the table.  

And when I'm done I just slide all my shipping supplies back on the shelf, remover the quilt rack and drop the board.  How about that!

It's four minutes until Wednesday, so I'm going to table this and go to bed :-D.

Lamb Camp Legacy Yarn

After we got Baaxter back under control, I was able to get a couple really sweet pictures of the sheep with the new yarn.  

(new puzzle :-)

I always wonder how much they understand about...life.  I know they understand that getting sheared makes them feel a lot better, but do they know that what's in the basket is the wool from their backs?

Or their kids backs?  Rocky was very, very interested in the yarn.

Remember when I threw Rocky under the bus for being a spoiled sport about getting his picture taken?  Jared...  This is as close to the yarn as he'd get and it was just for a split (and blurry) second.

"Dudes, I don't know nothin'  about that yarn.  I'm just here for the ladies...and the cookies."

So this is the Lamb Camp....Legacy yarn.  It's a limited edition, small batch run, spun from some of the nicest lambs sired by Nistock Farm's Rocky and Jared when they were working over at Tring Farm, before they retired over here.

The yarn is a really versatile DK weight and I think it would be suitable for almost anything, except possibly socks...but I'm not a sock expert, so I could be wrong.  It's comfy and soft, but still has some texture and feels like actual wool.  I'll stop here before I say something disparaging about over processed merino... ;-).

Rocky and Jared are Cotswold crosses and the mommas are crosses of North Country Cheviots and Polypays and maybe a little Dorset, so the blend is a lovely mix of crimpy down type wool with a lovely longwool drape and luster.  I love the natural colors and the soft sheepy feel.  It really is beautiful.

Each washed skein measures 250 yards and the two grays weigh around 3.5 ounces and the white weighs almost 4 ounces, so it's on the heavier end of DK weight.  I can also wind off skeins without washing, for weavers.  Unwashed skeins are measured at 262 yards to account for shrinkage.

I've knit the three color sample and dyed and knit the Forest for the Trees hat.  I've also woven a dollhouse rug  with it for a friend.  I enjoyed each project and am very happy with this fun and useful yarn.  I'm also getting ready to start a small cable project, too, you know...for marketing purposes ;-).

Speaking of marketing, each skein is $18.  And it often goes without saying, but buying this yarn supports not just our farm and sheep, but also Tring Farm, who raised these legacy lambs, and Stonehedge Fiber Mill, who spun the yarn, and our sheep shearers, our veterinarians, our local feed mill,  our hay and straw producers...

By the way (more marketing ;-D) there are still about a dozen Equinox Farm calendars and 4 Lamb Camp calendars left in case anyone is still needing a 2020 calendar!  We are no longer able to recycle paper here (do not get me started!) so I'd love to find them good homes.  Sale prices $10 (farm) and $8 (Lamb Camp).

Yarn Along - A Barnyard Scarf

One of my favorite things to do is to sit down and spin yarn from our flock.  I have a big plan for the Tour de Fleece this year involving spinning enough yarn for a sweater, but mostly I only get allow myself an hour or so here and there and then I end up with baskets full of small amounts of yarn...that just sit there.  

I do enjoy the baskets of yarn.  There's something joyful about all the different colors, textures, weights and especially all the individual sheep tucked in there, but I've been trying to think of something special to make that would utilize those small skeins.

I decided to try weaving a multi-yarn scarf.  I used my handspun bits and bobs for the warp (the up and down threads) and some Nistock Farms Golden Fleece Cotswold singles for the weft (the side to side threads).  

Since the warp threads were all different thicknesses, I used a reed that would accommodate the thickest yarns.  Actually, I started with a 6 dent reed (6 ends per inch) but didn't like it and, you know, ripped it out ;-).  The 8 dent reed worked reasonably well, but a 10 would have been better.

I wanted to showcase the individual handspun yarns rather than the solid color weft, so I worked for a warp faced weave (more warp showing than weft).  I know who most of the yarns are.  The white Cotswold is Keebler, the warm brown is Petunia, the thinner white is Peabody, the too thick for the 10 dent reed gray is Rebecca Boone, the medium weight gray is probably Jester...

And it's too hot to even ask 20 to model it, so I hung it on the barn ladder.  Next to the fire extinguisher.  

Some day it will cool down enough to wear.

Regarding books...I have lost the energy to listen to "grown up" books and after thoroughly enjoying the Terry Prachett young adult books last year, decided to delve into the Newbery Medal Winners list this year.  I may just stay there.  I've listened to The Girl Who Drank the Moon, The One and Only Ivan, Moon Over Manifest, Walk Two Moons and Bridge to Terabithia.  

I highly recommend them all :-).

The Other News

I've had some inquiries lately about spinning and weaving guilds in the area.  Luckily we have several throughout the state and I'm always happy to forward on information about them.  Before we moved to the farm, I participated with a couple of the groups and really enjoyed the camaraderie and educational opportunities.  

Post farm, I haven't been to a guild meeting in years :-(.  Heck, I have a pretty darn complete studio right here on the farm and I still don't show up near as much as I should I'd like.  I always have big hopes that various events we've hosted here will allow me to sit down and spin, but I always end up talking and teaching...and watching over my shoulder while everyone else makes and uses yarn.

I've decided to start a small guild here on the farm.  It will work like a traditional guild and is open to anyone interested in wool crafts.  Any wool crafts and not just from our sheep, although if you show up with some alpaca, mohair, camel, rabbit...we might make you sing a silly sheep song! ;-)

We are going to meet on the second Tuesday of each month, starting at 6:00 p.m.  While that sounds like an odd day and time, I don't want to conflict with the Monday, Friday and Saturday meet times of several other local groups.  Plus, it's nice to have something mid-week to look forward to :-).

Most folks coming out to the farm enjoy visiting with the sheep.  Some even want to learn more about what it takes to have sheep, how to care for them, shearing...  If that's you, come a little early and you can help with the evening chores (or just watch if you prefer).

We'll even have food!  Don't get too excited.  It will most likely just be a loaf of fresh bread and a Trader Joe's soup...or blue box mac and cheese...just kidding...mostly ;-).  You are welcome to bring something to share, but absolutely can just show up and relax.

The first meeting will be next Tuesday, January 8th.  I sure wish everyone was "local" or they'd get that stupid teleporter working.  Please join us in spirit!

Sheep To Shawl

Oops, I'd forgotten we'd taken these pictures at the end of October :-o.  Probably better to show them for Wovember anyway.  That would be rationalized procrastination ;-).

"Hey, Baba?  Would you mind if we took some pictures of you and the shawl I wove from your fleece?"

"I've got cookies :-)."

"Those are pretty good cookies, so...sure."

"You made this from my wool?"

"Yep."

"That's actually pretty cool!"

It's very cool!

I always love to see what kbdoolin has made, especially when it comes from our flock. Just beautiful, Karen! 

Yarn Along - The Denim Elizabeth Shawl

Once I finally settled on what I was doing with the colors, twill structure and sett, the rest of the project went off without a hitch.  Actually, the entire project from dyeing and combing to spinning and finally weaving was completely enjoyable.  I think it does look like denim and I'm giving myself an A for creating and using c-o-l-o-r :-D.

I was worried there were too many white stripes, but side by side, it's probably not far off.  I wish I'd had a little more of the very light blue yarn, but again, it's not too far off.

The orange stripe on each edge is to match the side seam stitching and hems.

And this beautiful shawl pin (made by a friend who didn't just create the pin, but made the glass beads as well!) nicely represents the coppery/brass button.

My biggest fear in weaving a shawl was that it would end up thick, stiff and blanket-y when I wanted light and drape-y.  I worried a bit about how loosely woven this was, but I had confidence in the yarn and it came out just as I wanted. 

Thanks, Elizabeth!  I had a great time and, as always, learned a lot.  A great project :-).

My book this week is The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg.  After last week I wanted something completely Pollyanna and this definitely fit the bill.  Nothing earth shattering, but a completely enjoyable story.  Perfect :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Yarn Along

Yeah, I know I missed last week.  These pictures were actually all taken, well, most of them, last week, but I didn't have the mental energy to explain them and then the next thing I knew it was like Friday.  

It's quarter after ten and I once again don't feel like I can give this post the energy it needs, but I'm going to at least hit the high spots so I have a record of at least some of how this project has progressed.  This is the Elizabeth shawl.

After stewing and stewing on how much of each color I wanted to use and how I wanted to use the colors, I finally decided to just figure out the percentages of the colors as they came off the wheel.  I don't remember now how I separated out the colors before spinning, hence the importance of documentation (head smack).  

I like how Betsy appears to be studying the loom (the big Mac) in front of her.  She's probably amazed at the dishtowel mess on there.  I'll be weaving the shawl on the Baby Mac for just that reason.  

I'm not going to address how the warping board also appears to be appalled at the dish towel mess in front of it.  

Normally I wouldn't have left each color on as I wound the warp, but I wanted to see all the colors together in case it told me something about the mix aka something else to stew about...which I did for about a week and then finally decided to just go with it by the math and how it turned out was how it was supposed to turn out.  

And yes, still stewing.

So then I sleyed the reed using the 'by the book' maths to determine which size reed I should use...and didn't like it.  Thought it was too crowded.  

So then I pulled the little Dorothy loom out and wove a sample...like I should have from the very beginning.  I threaded it looser, did a right and left twill, thought maybe I should double check the denim twills and found that actually jean denim is not a 2/2 twill, but a 3/1 twill for heavy denim and 2/1 twill for lighter weight fabric.  

I sampled the 3/1 and hated it and then thought what the heck and pulled last half of the sample out and re-threaded it for a 2/1 twill and really liked that.  Sorry to not explain that more for non-weavers, but it's now 10:40 and I'm tired :-o.

I also had a great plan to take pictures of 20 and the Sock Monkey doing all this since they tend to be the ones to fix most of my yarn problems...and forgot.  It would have been really cute.  Sigh...

My next dilemma was the orange.  I'd originally planned to just use that for the hem stitching, but stewed on that for awhile and decided (after it was threaded and wound on of course) that I wanted it to run up both edges as well, like the side seams of blue jeans.  

I stewed on how to make that work without un-doing anything, started putting the hemstitching in and didn't like it so took it out, pulled one of the four hand woven (with a needle) picks of the plain weave edge to make it three to match the three shafts I was using (don't ask me why I thought that was important), got the side orange set up and started weaving and after about three inches I decided I wanted the hem stitching after all and put that back in.  Yes, I'm exhausting even myself at this point.

I'm a little worried that the fabric is too "sleazy" but it was sleazy on the sample as well and it fulled nicely so I'm [weaving] on with confidence...  I'm about halfway through.

As far as books....yeesh...I've hit some duds lately.  Well, duds really isn't the right word.  My most recent book, The One and Only Ivan was very well rated and I guess most folks really enjoyed it, but even though I had to assume the ending was going to be happy, I really struggled getting to that ending having to listen to and be reminded of what people do to animals.

Speaking of animal books, after I raced through all of the Tiffany Aching books last year I listened to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.  Terry Pratchett was just an incredible story teller.  I have listened to these six books several times now and each time I catch something new and brilliant that I'd missed before.  These I can highly recommend!

Joining in with Ginny for the...

Yarn Along - The Daniel Scarf

When my mother passed away this winter I inherited her weaving loom, a (now) vintage Leclerc table loom and floor stand.  I don't remember her weaving with it, but she had a good collection of weaving books and some leftover yarn, so she must have made a good run at it at some point.

Daniel's 2015 fleece went to A Yarn Well Spun last year and she had a run of yarn spun from it.  I picked up a couple undyed skeins at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in May and as the Tour rolled around, I decided to combine it with the loom and put both to good use.

The finished scarf.

Before fulling/blocking - you know, my favorite part ;-).  

Notice how you can see each individual strand?  How almost rough it looks?  Woven cloth is not finished until it's been "fulled".  Fulling is done (at least here) in the washing machine and involves hot(tish) water, soap and a few seconds of machine agitation.

Notice how much softer and fuzzier and comfy it looks now?  The yarn all melded together?  You should be able to click to biggify.  Isn't that fun?

Some mandatory blocking (where you size it and even out any uneven spots) pictures.  I used the house porch this time, but I'm going to move back to the Wool House porch next time because the table height is more comfortable up there.  

And yes, it's a simple, straight, rectangular woven scarf (as opposed to,say, a fancy, curvy lace shawl), but any time I put wool and a measuring stick together, you know there are going to be pins involved. Lots of pins.  An insane amount of pins.  I LOVE to block :-).

The cats are all pretty much self blocking these days.  No pins required.

My latest favorite spider, doing a little spinning and weaving above the red bench.  You'll need to biggify to see her.  She's quite pretty.

After several (!) disappointing book downloads, I was luckily reminded that you can never go wrong with a No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book, so enjoyed my weaving listening to the latest from Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni.  

I had a pleasant surprise in the mailbox over the weekend, too. Shepherds and Shepherding by Jonathon Brown.  It's packed full of historical shepherding information and pictures and I'm thoroughly enjoying that as well.

Joining in with Ginny...

Weekend Wrap Up

Whew!  It's been a bit of a whirlwind.  We had friends in camped out in the house and Wool House and one night had 13 people here for dinner.  Luckily the weather cooled off a bit and the porch was pleasant and everyone was comfortable, even crabby me ;-).

We had a small, but great group for the yarn swap and spin in on Saturday.  I actually sat down and spun some and enjoyed visiting with everyone :-).  There was a bit of selling and a bit of swapping.  I gave a short spindle lesson and a very short weaving lesson and there was a lot of knitting help given all around.  Fiber folks are just the best.

The Tour de Fleece rides on.  I'm still working on my woven scarf, pushing to finish today.  Now that things are hopefully settling back down for a bit, I plan to really clock some "mileage".  The rest of the group has been inspiring as usual.

The Young Eagle - well, I hope all is well.  He came down to eat breakfast on Sunday and that was the last 'for sure' sighting :-/.  I think the timing was normal for "moving on", but it seems odd to break it off that abruptly.

There has been no sign of a tragic ending though and the yard is so full of similar aged fledglings that maybe he just assimilated back into bird world.  I'm trying to not be too sad.  It's hard.  I really loved that silly bird.  He/she was a gift.

Thanks for this video, Robin.

Visiting The Local Yarn Store

Karen (kbdoolin) has been here this past week. We've been lambing and weaving our butts off.  Well, mostly I've been lambing and she's been weaving (although I did get a warp for some dish towels wound and ready to thread up :-).  She wove a beautiful scarf from some handspun Rebecca Boone and Woolliam.  

The warp (long threads going from back to front on the loom - in this case Woolliam) ends that are leftover when you cut a project off the loom are called thrums.  I usually save back a few thrumbs for tying yarn skeins and toss the rest out for the birds.  Karen scattered hers in a nearby red bud last night and early this morning...

Within minutes the shelves were picked clean!